Wagner: Die Walkure / Tannhauser- (2) excerpts (second Ring

Wagner: Die Walkure / Tannhauser- (2) excerpts (second Ring cycle, 1955)

The release of Joseph Keilberth's legendary stereo recordings of the first cycle of the 1955 Ring at Bayreuth brought Testament worldwide acclaim. Partly for recording security, partly out of interest, Decca's engineers also recorded the second cycle, from which this first-ever release of Die Walkure is drawn. While taping both the Ring cycles and the performances of Der fliegende Hollander (also conducted that year by Keilberth, see Testament SBT2 1384), the Decca team also made some experimental recordings of excerpts from his Tannhauser performances. Keilberth inspires his orchestra here to a Toscanini-like sensuality in the dance music. The section recorded from Act III catches the young Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in his second year at the festival and shows the risks that Wolfgang Windgassen was pepared to take with the title role --employing, as Wagner himself asked for at the opera's Paris premiere in 1861, a deliberately hoarse, broken tone for this failed pilgrim's search for grace.
Country USA
Manufacturer TESTA
Binding Audio CD
ItemPartNumber TES1432
Model TES1432
ReleaseDate 2009-09-01
UnitCount 4
Format Import
UPCs 749677143220
EANs 0749677143220

Wagner: Die Walkure / Tannhauser- (2) excerpts (second Ring cycle, 1955)